Dennis Eckersley threw out the first pitch to Kirk Gibson before Game 4
Three decades after suffering a memorable loss at Dodger Stadium, Eckersley returned.
An average athlete might not return to the scene of one of his worst career moments, but Dennis Eckersley has never been average.
The Hall of Fame pitcher – who played for the Red Sox in two stints over his 24-year career, and currently works as a commentator on NESN – was on the wrong end of an iconic baseball moment: Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit, game-winning home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
In the 9th inning, with Eckersley on the mound to close out the game for the Athletics, a hobbled Gibson came to the plate and smashed a two-run home run to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win. They would go on to win the World Series, 4-1.
The two players – Eckersley and Gibson – have stayed connected not just in baseball history, but in friendship, as Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times recently explored.
It was on display before Game 4 of this year’s World Series, as a smiling Eckersley threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Gibson.
“Throw me that 3-2 backdoor slider,” Gibson told Eckersley before, referencing the pitch he hit for a home run.
Eck and Kirk reunite 30 years later.
Awesome. pic.twitter.com/9ZomkzCvFY
— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2018
Eckersley later tweeted a picture of he and Gibson in the stands at Dodger Stadium:
Never thought then that I’d be sitting at a #WorldSeries game at @Dodgers stadium 30 years later with my pal @23KGibby pic.twitter.com/WpAxlVuhdY
— Dennis Eckersley (@Eck43) October 28, 2018
Here’s an interview that Eckersley conducted with Gibson at Fenway Park earlier in 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNfXVThhfQQ
